Photogenic Severe Weather Event In A Dry Year

The year 2016 has not been kind for spotters/chasers in Eastern Iowa. With a few exceptions, storms have either fizzled out or completely passed us by. Thursday, August 4 was different. A small area of storms just east of Ames/Des Moines began to organize around 4:00 pm CDT, and began to move east. Severe Thunderstorm Watch 433 was issued at 4:45 pm CDT, and at about that time I decided to head out and meet the oncoming storm which was quickly growing and soon became severe-warned. Above is how the cell appeared from US Highway 30 at 5:16 pm, just west of Cedar Rapids. The cell's location at this time was about 38 miles distant in the Tama, Iowa area. Photograph was shot through my vehicle's windshield.

5:19 pm. I am about .2-mile east of 32nd Avenue on US 30 and about 2 miles south of Atkins, Iowa. The most intense area of the storm is now about 33 miles away. Note how the cell's anvil is beginning to cover the sun disk.

5:21 pm. The sun is about to be swallowed by the storm cell's anvil. I am now about .15-mile east of 30th Avenue on US 30, about 7 miles west of Cedar Rapids. The storm is about 30 miles distant, just east of the Tama area.

5:25 pm. Parked on 30th Avenue, just a tenth-mile north of US 30 and outside my car. This panorama image looks west, and the sun has now completely disappeared behind the severe storm's structure. The storm is 27 miles distant, in the Vining, Iowa area. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

This radar screen capture corresponds to 5:15 pm (very top photo). Target icon shown just west of Cedar Rapids on the map pinpoints my position and movement in relation to the storm at that moment.